Friday, November 30, 2007

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

"Please do not pester me"--Chapter I.

And Chapter II.
(By the way, she really doesn't mind having her photo taken--she's a total poser when the camera comes out. It just so happens that in these shots I had awakened Mrs. Tallulah Mae McGrumperson.)

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Happy Happy Happy Birthday Up in Here

People, get out your party hats and noisemakers and break out the champagne, because today is a day to celebrate! It's my sweetest B.'s birthday (sound of crowd roaring and applauding). Oh yeah!

ILYMTA, my birthday boy. . .

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Filigreed

I had hoped to begin showing some Christmas crafting peeks right about now, but I'm slammed with a please-read-again-in-less-than-24-hours-this-234-page-book deadline.

So, a filigreed metal thingy. . .

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Estate Sale-ishness (Again)

When last we left off, I revealed some Christmas items from an estate sale. Here we have: a giant duck to sew and stuff! B. asked me why on earth I bought it--I mean, come on! Who could resist? If you look closely, you can see that his name is "Danny the Duck."
A French box full of French embroidery floss . . .

And two rockin' vintage t-shirts! The first one speaks for itself, mais oui? And the second one? Well, true confession time: I was a band geek in high school. Yes, it's true . . . And we wore hats very like the one on this shirt, too, so of course I had to have this. Estate sales--they rock!

Monday, November 26, 2007

Beverages Comma Yum

Two different seasons in beverages (although they were consumed on the same day!). This is a refreshing and summery Watermelon Kiwi Lemonade from Hash House A-Go-Go; apparently the restaurant owner made this lemonade on TV with my girl, Martha Stewart. It was quite delicious, needless to say...
This, on the other hand, is a dark and creamy winter ale. Heady!

OK, now I'm thirsty . . .

Friday, November 23, 2007

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

Tallulah Mae couldn't wait for Santa--she wanted to sit on the Wise and Benevolent Turkey's lap (all she wanted for Thanksgiving was food, more food!) . . . she is, um, excited.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Happy Giving Thanks

I try to very quietly give thanks every single day for my wonderful life . . . but since today is the official day, I will very unquietly say: HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Crazy Vintage Week

Some assorted Christmas, cr--, er, stuff!! I love the old jingle bells when they start to tarnish--gives 'em that extra vintage-y look. And you can't really see them closely, but that package with the blue label shows "Tiny Birds." How great--they're tiny, and they're birds: they're Tiny Birds!

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Monday, November 19, 2007

Week o' Crazy Vintage

Busy week ahead for all of us, so let's just look at some estate sale scoreage (is that "e" in there or not?), shall we? First up: buttons! Yes, I KNOW I have a lot of buttons (quit nodding your head, Dawn H.--but you of all people completely understand! And this stuff all came from a trailer, yay! ). So? Who could resist the plaid buttons? And the white swirly ones? And . . . And . . . And . . .

Friday, November 16, 2007

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

"What's that you say? I'm the cutest dog in the universe?"

Why yes, yes you are--and the sweetest one, too!

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Nesting

Check it out! This amazing nest fell about 20 or more feet out of a pine tree at this park. We saw it falling, falling, falling . . . thank goodness there was no sign of bird bebes inside.
Look at the construction: pine needles, bits of paper, bits of what look like dog hair--amazing!
And for scale, Miss Tallulah Mae. This shot is a bit deceiving, actually--the nest is bigger than her head. What kind of bird made this? I wish I knew!

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Operation Kitten!!! Rescue

Once upon a time, there were three little kittens! (Everytime you type the word "kitten," it must be followed by an exclamation point: kittens!) A black-and-white girlie (not pictured), this darling girl, and the handsome boy below.
They were living in apalling conditions, as you can see--trash, broken glass, who knows what else.
Right by the train and trolley tracks.
They were captured in this makeshift--but very effective--kitten! trap, lured in by the irresistable pungent aroma of sardines.
This little tale will have a happy ending, because these babies were fortunate enough to be rescued by Robin and James--they're SO getting extra good karma points! The kittens! are ensconsed in a veritable kitten! spa--it's warm and it's safe. Lucky little kittens!


Now they need names: Mochi, Wasabi, and Edamame? Moe, Curly, and Larry? Diana, Camilla, and Charles? Elvis, Priscilla, and Lisa Marie? Hmm . . .

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Friends Are Fun (and Funny)

So, Miss Robin (of Various and Sunday fame) and I went to Bread and Cie for a chai latte and a nosh (de-LAY-shous blueberry-cornmeal scone).
Robin hit that garbage can--not once, but TWICE--with wadded-up napkins. A roar went up from the crowd (or at least, from me). She's got mad skills, that girl . . .



Monday, November 12, 2007

Ribbonacious

I don't mean to gloat or anything . . . (well, perhaps just a little!): imagine my utter delight when I was presented with this little pile o' goodness. It's from Hong Kong, brought over to this side of the Pacific by the nicest person ever, Frances, who went to the Sham Shui Po district (home of the bins of beads in my very first post ever) on Kowloon twice to round up this ribbony bonanza for me. How cool is that?!
There is Christmas ribbon . . .
Pretty pastel checks and stripes (slightly out of focus, sorry) . . .
And this: check out the dragon on the bottom trim!

Thank you, Frances, for feeding my habit (she and her husband have also fed my digestive habit as well!). Y'all are the best . . .








Friday, November 9, 2007

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

Now that the weather has gotten chilly here--OK, I know that some of you in colder climes just snorted coffee out your nose, but it IS chilly!--Tallulah Mae has donned her fuzzy scarf, which matches her coat perfectly. She is so happy. Not.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

When Someone Shares Their Buttermilk...

. . . make buttermilk coffee cake. Which I did, and it was pretty good--but for a simple and basic coffee cake, it's hard to beat the Bisquick version (I have a Martha version that comes close). I'm seeing now that the slice I chose to photograph (I love corner pieces, don't you? Corner brownies rock!) doesn't have NEARLY enough sugar/butter topping on it.

Buttermilk is one of those things that you never have when you need it--at least I don't--but then you buy a carton, use a cup, and then what? So my friend shared her carton with me, and wouldn't you know it? I had trouble finding a recipe I wanted to make that had buttermilk in it!

Here's how you fake buttermilk, apparently . . .

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

The Line-Up in the Light of Day

Here is the jolly plastic Hallo(*)een brigade, before they (*)ere put a(*)ay for the season. Cute, no?

Note the asterisks above? A certain key (comes after V and before X) has stopped (*)orking on my computer. Could be a problem, I think!

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Comfort Food

Ah, chocolate pudding . . . so yummy. When I was a kid, we'd have Jello chocolate pudding, made by my mom on the stove, and then we'd pour milk over it while it was still warm. Mmmm . . .

I made this pudding from scratch, just five ingredients. It was OK, not killer . . . and it got disgustingly watery in the refrigerator. I must find another recipe, I think.

Monday, November 5, 2007

Gourd Afterlife

Once you've tired of your pumpkin, plant it up with some colorful fall perennials and use it as a centerpiece. (I know, it's rather Martha-esque, but remember, I loves me some Martha!).

Friday, November 2, 2007

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Pretty, Random: Pretty Random

It's been an interesting (and frankly, exhausting) few weeks: several family members in and out of the hospital (boo), but one of them got a new kidney (yay); sick with a cold-like thing (blegh); terrible wildfires (oh no; sigh); loads of work (yuck); a good friend diagnosed with breast cancer (damn). So . . . a random photograph of something quite pretty.

This is brugmansia, or angel's trumpet, and you usually see it in yellow, so this one--which is huge--is a bit unusual. And pretty!